Wire-cut machines commonly in use make use of a wire or like thin, continuous elongate tool. In such machines the wire is continuously unrolled from a supply reel and rolled on a take-up reel. In the path between the supply and take-up reels there are provided a pair of wire support or guide members defining a machining zone therebetween in which a workpiece or a portion of the workpiece to be machined is located. The support members act to stretch the wire traveling between them under suitable tension and to precisely position the traveling wire in a machining relationship with the workpiece.
In non-contact processes the wire is electrically conductive and forms an electroerosion electrode and an electric energy is supplied between the traveling wire and the workpiece across a machining gap filled with a liquid dielectric or electrolyte to electrophysically or electrochemically remove material from the workpiece. In the contact-type process, machining is carried out typically in the presence of an abrasive medium which is attached to or distributed over the wire surface or otherwise introduced in suspension with a machining fluid into the machining gap between the traveling wire and the workpiece.
As material removal proceeds, the workpiece carried on the machining table or bed is displaced relative to the traveling wire along a prescribed cutting path until a desired contour is formed in the workpiece.
Heretofore, the technique described has been applied generally with a fixed wire-support assembly relative to the carriage supporting the workpiece irrespective of a change in surface contour of the workpiece oriented relative to the axis of the traveling wire. As a result, when the workpiece involves a curved, intricate or, generally, a non-planar surface contour, a change takes place in relative orientation between the axis of the traveling wire and the workpiece surface in the course of machining operation. It has now been found that this change is diadvantageous since it creates a deviation in the machined shape and amount from portion to portion which leads to a machining result which is unsatisfactory both in accuracy or performance.